Video: A reason to like soccer
Published: January 28, 2009
Archive for January, 2009
Simeon Rice: Gruden is a scumbag
Published: January 28, 2009
Former Buccaneers defensive end Simeon Rice had some strong words about recently fired coach Jon Gruden. Rice and Gruden were both part of Tampa Bay’s only championship season. Here’s what he said in a Sirius NFL radio interview:
“You get what you deserve,” Rice said. “That’s what Jon said. He got it now. Everybody gets what they deserve.
“You look at what he did when Chris [Simms] damn near died on the field he wanted to release him right when he got injured. I get hurt, my shoulder’s torn off the bone. This dude releases me. You know what I mean? I’m your guy. The list goes on. Keenan McCardell, that situation was a debacle. Keyshawn Johnson, another situation [that] was a debacle. Joey Galloway, which was his man, was in the dog house all year because he got injured, broke his ankle or whatever. Brad Johnson, that situation was bad. Brings Jeff Garcia in here, oh, he’s going to change things. I helped recruit him [and he] released me, kept Jeff and then put him in the dog house. Gets rid of Brian Greise, brings him, starts a controversy. It was chaotic. I’m giving you facts.
“How I feel personally? I could tell you that, too. I think he’s a scumbag,” Rice said. “I think he’s a scumbag personally. That’s when he’s telling you one thing and… You know what he told me? ‘Simeon you’ll be here in the next five years.’ I got injured [and] this man’s never said one word to me. I won a Super Bowl for you. I got 13 sacks, 12, 15 every year for you. I balled. I got injured [and] you let me go like it was nothing.”
I’ve always been a Gruden fan, but it’s true that he hasn’t always been fair to some of his players. Maybe he doesn’t have the best people skills, but I’d still take him over Wade Phillips.
Somebody wants Kenny Thomas
Published: January 27, 2009
I never thought I’d see the day, but somebody might be willing to trade for Kenny Thomas, the Kings forward who warms the bench for $9 million a year. The newest rumor is that if the Heat can’t trade Shawn Marion for Jermaine O’Neal, they’d trade him to Sac for Thomas and Brad Miller. Suckers! Am I crazy, or are both of those trades awful for Miami?
The Kings have been trying to get rid of Miller and Thomas for over a year, but nobody has been stupid enough up to this point. Marion carries a heavy price tag of $17 million, but his contract expires at the end of the year. Either Sacramento gets a great young player for a better price, or it’s money off the books. Win, win. I’m glad these discussions are being held over the phone, so GM Geoff Petrie can cover the phone when he lets out each giggle.
“You have to be open to just about anything at this point,” Petrie said. “What form that might take, I don’t know yet, but certainly I think you have to have a very, very open mind about what type of things you might consider and what immediate impact it might have – at least in some facet of what you’re trying to do.”
UFC is getting into the gym business
Published: January 26, 2009
From the AP:
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is planning to go toe-to-toe with the country’s biggest fitness club chains, and the founder of 24 Hour Fitness is in its corner.
UFC Gym officials said they are close to breaking ground on the first of five health clubs planned in California, and plan to build more such gyms across the country and in Canada.
“We’re going to force all these other gyms to take it up to another level,” UFC President Dana White told The Associated Press on Monday. “Just like we have in the fight business, and everyone’s trying to compete with us now, same thing’s going to happen in the fitness industry.”
Whatever happened to boxing gyms? Do they still exist outside of Philadelphia? In California?
My perfect Warriors lineup
Published: January 24, 2009
Monta Ellis dropped 20 points in his season debut. That’s pretty good. And to top it off, the W’s almost (I know, almost doesn’t mean crap) beat the Cavs in a 106-105 loss.
Can I just say it: Monta, I’ve missed you dude. Makes me think of this commercial he shot, presumably before the moped incident.
Now in a perfect world, I’d have a couple of different pieces for the Warriors to work with down under. But I won’t complain yet until I see how the team gels with each other and whether or not there are no considerable injuries (Jamal Crawford’s got a thigh contusion) to hamper their rotation. But until that day, this is my perfect Warriors lineup.
- Jamal Crawford at the point. The sweet part about him, the reason he was brought in, is he’s a scoring point guard. It adds to the versatility that the entire team carries. I can’t help but think that thigh contusion comes at a bad time. Janny Hu, the Chronicle’s Warriors beat writer, notes the bad timing.
- Monta Ellis at the off guard. There was some talk about him doing some point guard duties before Crawford came into the mix (really, before the season) and I just don’t think that would be wise. He needs to be at that off guard spot and only there so he can focus on scoring. His production is important to the team’s turnaround.
- Stephen Jackson at the big, small forward. He can be a leader some days and he can be downright atrocious when he’s pretending that hand doesn’t hurt. I’d be surprised if Jack was any good without the talent he has around him. But for goodness sake, when they are there, he flourishes.
- Corey Maggette at the small, small forward. I know he’s been playing well as the sixth man, doing things for the W’s they couldn’t do when they spelled their starters before (which they don’t do much of thanks to Nellie’s seemingly seven-man rotation). But I think he needs to be in there from the opening tip-off to provide that necessary scoring option. If Kelenna Azbuike is worthy, he’ll come off the bench and do what Maggette’s done now. Same with Brandan Wright and those rookies Anthony Randolph and Rob Kurz. They need to step up and take this spot back for the power forwards. Or at least give Donny a reason to put them in the rotation (Wright is the only one getting some serious minutes, but he’s hurt right now). And does Ronny Turiaf even matter? WTF?!?!?! If a miracle were to happen and these guys were able to step their game up, I would love for Jack to move back to the small, small forward and let Maggette come off the bench to bring his explosiveness. Unfortunately, Donny has trust issues.
- Andris Biedrins at center. He plays hard and smart. I don’t really ask for much more from him because there’s not enough ball to go around to feed this guy. He just needs to keep his head down and continue to clean up the mess in the post. Eventually, Chris Mullin will find a suitable big man (if he hasn’t already) to help him out. Then we’ll start the two-year process of Nellie getting to know him, and possibly trust him. That’ll be a happy day.
The Kings are a joke
Published: January 23, 2009
Not just any joke, but a running joke in my newsroom. It’s odd because people still challenge their ineptness.
The other day, the Warriors beat the Wizards 119-98 on Monday. In response, my boss says he think the Kings, who played the Wizards Wednesday, will beat Washington as well.
Maybe you’re not catching the drift, so I’ll spell it out for you. He thinks the Warriors and the Kings are on the same level. I was shocked. Really, I was.
The Kings suck. All they have to go on is Kevin Martin. Every now and then, John Salmons surprises me. Same for Spencer Dawes. But in general, the collection of people that wear those purple and white jerseys are losers. They’re hurting — hard. At 10-33 Friday, they’re one game away from tying with the bottom of the NBA barrel (Washington 9-33, LA Clippers 9-32 and Oklahoma City 9-34).
The Warriors aren’t far away from this territory either. They’re 13-30, far out of the playoff hunt and still looking for their first good run.
The difference is, the Kings have had their full lineup and star player for at least 20 games when Martin came back from injury. Monta Ellis is returning to the Warriors tonight after that famous moped incident he lied about. It’s his first game of the 2008-2009 season.
Here we are almost at the all-star break, and we’re just getting our star player. (If you didn’t know, I’m a Warriors fan. I know, it hurts inside some days. I’ll get over it.) How are we supposed to compete in the ultra-amazing Western Conference when we don’t even have the guy that spurred the W’s management to let Baron Davis go find himself in La La land? We can’t. We won’t. Hence, 13-30.
What’s the Kings’ excuse? Firing Reggie Theus? Please, he was caretaker for rebuilding phase the owners weren’t aware of. I wrote about that before the season started.
Oh, and the Kings lost that game to the Wizards 110-107.
Man, it sucks ripping these teams. But you know what, if they don’t want to get ripped then maybe they’ll start winning some games. Or at least beat the other teams that suck. Geesh.
Super baby on its way
Published: January 16, 2009
The WNBA’s Candace Parker is expecting a baby! I know I’m excited! Apparently, her husband is the Sacramento Kings’ Shelden Williams. Yes, it’s another attempt at a sports super baby. It’s a fascinating scientific experiment, one step below cloning.
How great of a basketball player will this baby be? Better than my clumsy baby, that’s for sure. I’m already disappointed in my unborn child for their lack of athletic ability. But I’ve got to shoulder the blame. It’s also disappointing that I don’t even have the option of creating a super baby. I’d have to find a woman twice the size and skill of Parker.
“Shelden and I are very excited to be expanding our family,” Parker said. “We’d be even more excited if Shelden was a star like me rather than a bench warmer, but either way our kid is going to be unstoppable on the court, so watch out bitches!”
OK, she didn’t say the second half of that quote. But I know she was thinking it. Side note #1: Shelden is in a relationship where being in the NBA still doesn’t make him the pants-wearer. Side note #2: Candace was at the Kings – Heat game I attended; she’s by far the tallest attractive woman I’ve seen.
MLB owners ask for salary cap
Published: January 15, 2009
I’ve longed for the day when the Yankees won’t be able to spend more money on one player than the small market baseball teams spend on an entire roster. I’m a fan of the salary cap. Up until today, I never heard much demand for it. The Associated Press is reporting that some owners are in favor of it after the Yankees spent about a half-billion dollars on free agents during the country’s recession.
“I think there’s a lot of owners that would like to have that right now,” Oakland owner Lew Wolff said. “I think the parity is what we’re looking for, and the more ways you can get to parity the better. I think it’s pretty good now, but I think it could be better. It’s a very good question, because maybe this recession, depression, whatever we’re in may be a change for a lot more years.”
I agree with Wolff that there has, somehow, had good parity in recent years. But common sense says that when one team has the ability to spend $100 million more on their roster than another team, it’s not quite a level playing field. Shoot, give me $200 million and I’ll put together a playoff team while working out of my apartment. This is the right move, and I hope it’s put in place.
“I would ask, if it’s such a bad idea, what sport doesn’t have a salary cap other than us?” Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said.
Giants need to figure it out – now
Published: January 14, 2009
Hold your horses Giants fans. The jury is still out on whether picking up the Big Unit is worth the risk.
What made the Giants so confident in him, that they rolled the dice on a 21-year veteran? What says he doesn’t break down? Yeah, it’s a one-year contract, but does that guarantee 30 starts? Ten wins?
I’m worried about re-occurring back problems. Maybe arthritis. Or some mixture of the both. I should just flat out say it. I’m worried about old people. Particularly, 40-year olds playing on a professional ball club filled with guys my age.
Johnson is walking on to a team that totally reinvented itself from the set of Cocoon. Where once it was filled with the has-beens of Major League Baseball, now it is filled with the up and coming stars of the mound.
You see that hill in AT&T Park, Randy. That’s Timmy’s. He owns it. He earned it. He’s the future. And you … well, you are the byproduct of a mixed philosophy and general manager Brian Sabean’s dismal planning efforts for the future.
I take no solace in typing these words. On the outside, it’s pretty mean-spirited. But the fact remains, Johnson doesn’t belong on a team whose nucleus includes the likes of Lincecum (24), the heir and savior, and Matt Cain (24) the go-to guy. Barry Zito (30) … well, I’m tired of ripping him. Noah Lowry (28), Jonathan Sanchez (26) and all-star Brian Wilson (26) are the Giants’ base of operations. Success of the organization starts with these fellas. The young guys.
Why do you throw in a 45-year old and expect things to get better? All the while, the G-men are pontificating whether they’ll move Lowry or Sanchez.
Does any of this make sense?
This isn’t a case of gerontophobia or some other maligned ignorance. It’s a disagreement of philosophy. Sabean, who has proved time and time again that he has no plan, dropped all pretension of youthful reinvention when he picked up Johnson.
Maybe he didn’t notice, but the Big Unit’s on a downward spiral. He went 11-10 last year in 184 innings, scored 173 strikeouts making him just as feared as any average pitcher.
I won’t sit here and compare the Big Unit out of his prime against last year’s Cy Young award winner. That’s just unfair. Instead, I’ll compare him to the guy fourth in the rotation: Sanchez. In 2008, Sanchez finished 9-12, dropped a 5.01 ERA and dispatched 157 batters by way of strikeout in 158 innings. That’s almost one strikeout an inning.
That kind of talent, although average in terms of ERA, is solid in terms of production. Plus, he doesn’t come with the price tag Johnson carries, who is reportedly drawing $8 million in base salary and another $2.5 million in incentives.
Hmmm. Do I want average and cheap production or do I want average and expensive production? So hard to choose.
How about neither? How about, for once, we stick with the plan? How about we let the young guys develop into the superstars they are and surround them with other young guys who are hungry to win?
How about next time, we save that money for a cleanup hitter?
This column originally appeared in The Union.
Cowboys fan points gun at Irvin
Published: January 14, 2009
As former Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin pulled up to a red light in Dallas on Monday, a passenger in the car next to him rolled down his window. Irvin did the same, thinking maybe the guy had something to say, and that’s when Irvin’s greatness may have saved his life.
“The passenger pulled out a semiautomatic and I knew what time it was,” Irvin said. “But he said ‘Oh, that’s Michael Irvin, with the Dallas Cowboys.’”
It’s great to know that some criminals out there have some standards. A heart of gold even? No, that’s probably too far. Now, if he had robbed Donovan McNabb on Tuesday, that might have made up for pointing the gun at Irvin in the first place. Irvin is lucky, and he knows it. A possible attempted robbery practically turned into a friendship.
“So we started talking about the Cowboys and everything,” he said. “Then they got back on the highway. I tell you what, I’m glad he was a Cowboy fan.”
